This is a quick review after about 7 hours of game play, NTW is definitely better then ETW in many regards but has some draw backs. I'll keep this short and concise with less fluff and more facts. I have mostly played single player so thats the area my review will mostly cover.
NTW Main Menu - NTW has a new music theme and a new video, the music is fantastic an boarders epic.
The single player campaigns seem to be harder then ETW, it takes awhile to develop your economy and it has a much different feel to it. The building tech is much different in NTW and includes buildings like markets, supply depots, gunsmiths, and manufactories.
Screen shots of some of the different buildings you will see on the campaign map.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Generals/Characters - Certain characters have unique models on the campaign map and on the battle map, this is a very cool feature and should be in every Totalwar series. However there only appears to be three unique characters that get campaign and battle map models the rest share the same models. CA this feature rocks so keep doing it!
Napoloen
Duke Wellington
Blucher
Blucher on the campaign and battle map.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Campaign Map AI
The Ai does seemed improved but the one thing that is really bothering me right now is how the Ai uses characters. Every time I run into Napoleon, Blucher, or Kutuzov they have 1-3 units in their stack! You would think the Ai would fill these generals stacks first but it leaves them vulnerable.
Characters with weak armies!
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Campaign Map - The campaign map is beautiful and has some kickass models for the various settlements. The NTW map is light years ahead of ETW but has a few blemishes.
England has no trees!
No Malta Province!
Too Many Trade Nods! there must be 20 of them.
No Trees in England
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Various Trade Nods
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Battlefield Effects - This has to be one of the most improved areas of the game the smoke is epic and makes it difficult to see through at times which is awesome.
Smoke!
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Bugs
-Dead units uniform turns white
-Reinforcements don't have faction colors
-Sometime my army and the Ai army don't have faction colors
-CA forgot to add the naval crew models that they advertise (if done intentionally shame on you)
Units without faction colors on the battle map.
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Overall the game is good but it still has a few bugs one of which is annoying, it seems like every other battle or ever time I get reinforcements my army losses its faction color and is pure white. Marching music is in but no bag pipes and they all appear to be playing the same song.
Hopefully you guys enjoyed this, it took me forever to put this post together with all of the uploading .. lol
I think I might have found why there are no trees in England
According to my 4th grade History teacher, the English Industrial Revolution took of quite fast and on a high tempo. The Steam Pump and other early inventions all needed fuel: wood. Forrests in England dissappeared rapidly, untill their solution was found: charcoal and coal.
"we're way way pre-alpha and what that means is there is loads of features not just in terms of the graphics but also in terms of the combat and animations that actually aren't in the game yet.So the final game is actually gonna look way way better than this!” - James Russell, CA
Just like the elephant animation, this Carthage scenario is actually in the game, it just has a small percantage factor for showing up, that's all...
Ouch, hopefully CA and quickly fix the bug about the uniforms, shouldn't be too hard I hope. Are reinforcements the same as in Empire?
Reinforcement are the same as ETW, but in NTW it is very difficult to build multiple full stacks due to the low income you generate. The economy seems much more balanced this time around, in ETW I could generate 15-20k in 40 turns in NTW I am luck if I can put together 5k in the time. As for the uniform thing thats why I took a break and put this review together.
Yeah I'm using an nVidia 8800 GTX, I had to RMA my ATI 4870x2 about two weeks ago.
I am using a 9800 gt and didnt see that. But I did notice that in battle the panels that pop up when you mouse over a unit still have the first letter cut off. Same thing on my old 7600 that I use to run two other monitors.
Thats only in campaign battles or are you seeing it in custom battles too?
my eternal thanks to the EB team for making R:TW such an epic game, and to TWC and all other modders for pushing the boundaries with each Total War title .
A few questions:
- Are the first chapters in the campaign (Italy and Egypt) more than just tutorials?
- Character traits/acillaries: in ETW there were very few traits and they were very generic and sometimes out of place (e.g. a female monarch getting the "mistress" ancillary). Has this been improved?
- Does the AI appear to build balanced armies and navies (i.e. not spamming trade ships to use as attack fleet)?
- How do the new gentlemen characters work? Are there cutscenes when they perform a mission?
- In M2TW (but not ETW), AI characters on the campaign would say something when you clicked on them. How is that in NTW?
- Are there many inconsistencies where the 3D model does not match the unit card (if so, I'll be looking forward to another Brightworks mod )
Regards
Last edited by Johan217; February 24, 2010 at 05:49 AM.
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Every time I run into Napoleon, Blucher, or Kutuzov they have 1-3 units in their stack! You would think the Ai would fill these generals stacks first but it leaves them vulnerable.
Reiksmarshal's Review (lots of pics)
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